Are People Born Wicked
by RandomlyBeingMe
Summary: Another fic by my friend. A mix of Phantom and Wicked. Better summary within. Although it's as close to the musical wicked as phantom can be :D
1. Chapter 1

This will be different from my usual writing, but this plot bunny wouldn't go away. This will be a Phantom version of Wicked, where different as necessary and set in the modern world. Any ooc- ness is to keep with their Wicked counteparts, so they will act in ways they wouldn't normally at times. Of, and Erik doesn't wear a mask for two reasons in this. One, as a plot device and second because in these times most deformed people don't hide their faces anymore.

"What are you staring at?" Erik growled. It was his first day at Shiz Academy in New York as an exchange student. He'd known it wouldn't be easy, especially with his deformity which made him look like a corpse. He groaned as he faced down a mob of other students.

"All right, let's get this over with. No I'm not suffering from a disease. Yes I was born this way. No I wasn't run over by a truck as a child..." He ran through the usual list of things he was asked when people first saw his face.

"Erik," Giovani warned gently. "Don't make a scene, please. And look after Lucianna."

Nodding, Erik sighed. He owed Giovani so much for helping him get this chance. And it was his fault Lucianna was in a wheelchair, he thought sadly.

"Yes, sir."

The elderly man wished both his daughter and adoptive son well before leaving Erik and Lucianna to get their room asignments. When Erik approached Mr. Andre, the vice principal, the older man jumped back with a start.

"I'm Erik, a living tradgedy," he introduced himself.

"Oh, yes, Erik. Well, I'm sure you're very bright."

"Looks like a DEAD head to me," a good looking boy laughed. Erik rolled up his sleeves ready to punch him, but Lucianna held his arm and he restrained himself.

"Mr. Raoul de Chagny, do you have your room assignment?" Andre asked the handsome boy.

"I have my own private suite."

The group of jocks he's been with groaned and complained until Raoul reasured them they could visit anytime.

"All right. Erik...I don't seem to see you listed. Would anyone volunteer to have Erik as their room mate?"

Raoul de Chagny had been talking with the others and hadn't heard, and was in for a shock when he went to ask about when football tryouts were.

"Thank you Mr. de Chagny."

'What?"

"I'm sure you and Erik will get along well as room mates."

"No!" both boys shouted at once.

"No chance," Raoul shouted.

"No choice," Andre answered. And that settled that.

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The next day both boys lay on their beds writing letters home, neither happy.

"My dear brother, Philippe," Raoul began as Erik wrote "My dear father," to Giovani.

Though unaware of it, both were writing very similar letters.

"There's been some confusion over rooming here at Shiz," both began.

"But of course, I'll care for Lucianna," Erik wrote.

"But of course I'll rise above it," Raoul wrote.

"For I know that's how you'd want me to respond. Yes, there's been some confusion,

for you see, my room-mate is.." the letters overlapped again.

Raoul debated how to describe Erik before finally writing "Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe."

Erik summed Raoul up in two words "A fop."

The two boys glared at each other with pure hate.

"What is this feeling, so sudden and new?" Raoul asked. Erik knew just what he meant.

"I felt it the moment I laid eyes on YOU."

"My pulse is rushing," Raoul said.

"My head is reeling," Erik complained.

"My face is flushing," Raoul added.

"What is this feeling? Fervid as a flame, does it have a name?" Both wondered.

"Yes!" They agreed. "Loathing! Unadulterated loathing!"

"For your face!" Raoul shouted knowing that would hurt Erik worst.

"Your voice!" Erik shouted back, pushing him.

"Your clothing!" Raoul pushed him back. Honestly did Erik always have to wear formal suits?

The two circled each other like two wolves about to tear each other's throats out.

"Let's just say - I loathe it all!" They continued to talk at once, looking like they'd love nothing better than strangling each other. "Every little trait, however small makes my very flesh begin to crawl with simple utter loathing!"

It was almost energizing, they had to admit.

"There's a strange exhilaration in such total detestation. It's so pure and strong!" Strange how they'd hated each other from the start.

"Though I do admit it came on fast, still I do believe that it can last." No doubt of that. They'd certainly never be friends.

"And I will be loathing! Loathing you my whole life long!" They each vowed as Raoul knocked over Erik's violin and Erik threw Raoul's mirror

Later that day at lunch Raoul's friends gathered around him

"Poor de Chagny, you are just too good," one said sympathetically.

"How do you stand it?" another asked.

"I don't think I could," a third said, shaking his head.

"He's a terror!"

"He's a Tartar!"

The other students were joining in now.

"We don't mean to show a bias, but de Chagny, you're a martyr."

"Well," he said with dignity (he was a de Chagny after all) "These things are sent to try us."

From his place at a table alone drinking some tea while he worked on a composition, Erik was listening.

"Poor de Chagny, forced to reside with someone so- disgusticified."

Erik laughed. That was the best insult they could come up with? Was that even a word? He wasn't going to be insulted by something so stupid.

"We all just want to tell you: we're all on your side."

Again, nothing Erik hadn't expected.

"We share your loathing. Unadultereated loathing for his face," they began to whisper among themselves now, but Erik's sharp ears picked it all up

"His voice," one said. Erik knew he had the best voice in the school, but jealousy added in didn't help the other think highly of him.

" His clothing." So he liked to dress formally.

"let's just say - we loathe it all!" The students all agreed.

As the day went on, Erik was the victim of every prank a student could pull. Having things chucked at him, books knocked out of his hands, spitballs aimed at him...One kid had tried putting his head in the toilet, but that hadn't ended well for the other student. The whispers continued.

"Ev'ry little trait however small makes our very flesh being to crawl."

He took it in stride. He knew he was repulsive, after all.

Spurred on by the new sport of making Erik's life hell the other continued doing their best to get a reaction out of him. He never showed that being hated so bothered him, but that didn't end their fun.

"There's a strange exhilaration in such total detestation. It's so pure and strong!"

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That evening Raoul came in to find Erik recopying some homework that one of the jocks had torn up on him, and he had to admit he'd judged Erik before getting to know him.

"Though I do admit it came on fast..." No, loathing Erik was too much fun. "Still I do believe that it can last."

The look in Erik's yellow eyes told him he wouldn't have it any other way.

"And I will be loathing forever! Loathing you my whole life long!" Erik shot back, then grinned and made a sudden move at Raoul and shouted "Boo!"

The other boy jumped back, making a cross with his fingers as if Erik were a vampire, and Erik laughed. Haveing Raoul as a room mate might prove entertaining.


	2. Chapter 2

The friction between the other students and Erik didn't exactly improve in the comming days, but at least the other students learned that all their taunting and cruelty wasn't going to get Erik to react the way they'd hoped. They still thought jokes about his face were fun, but not it wasn't as much fun since Erik acted as though he didn't care. By now though they had another reason to hate him, namely jealousy. Erik's grades were the best of any of them by far, especially in music. In no time he'd been promoted from the beginning music class that everyone started at to the advanced classes, easily testing out of the other music classes. Raoul had also hoped to get into the advanced classes early, but the teachers had not offered that chance to him.

Next to music Erik's favorite class was history, partly because he really liked the teacher. Dr. Nadir Kahn was a nice man who'd origionally come from the middle east and was therefore something of an outsider too. The other students disrespected him, and one day a derogatory message was even written on his blackboard.

"Who is responsible for this?" Dr. Khan asked calmly, pointing to the board. No one answered Dr. Khan sighed tiredly. "Very well. that will be all for today."

The other students cleared out, but Erik lingered behind.

"What's the matter with them?" He asked angrily. Why did they have to be so cruel to Dr. Khan?

"Oh don't worry about me. Go join your friends, Erik."

"That's all right. I have no friends," he said as if it didn't bother him."Would you like to share my lunch Dr. Khan?"

The man smiled. "Thank you. How kind." He sighed. 'Actually Erik I wanted to speak with you."

Only the other day, he'd overheard Andre talking to his friend Firmin, who was a big name in the music buisness. But a name was all he was. Firmin had no musical knowledge, but had gained a reputation by claiming other's works. Many times Andre would tell firmin of a promising young student. Firmin would offer the student help getting into the music buisness at the price of selling him their work for a time. Most students eager to break into the buisness jumped at the chance. But they were never given the chance to claim any work as their own, and once their work fell out of popularity some scandal was always drummed up against them and a new composer was chosen.

"I'm telling you," Andre had told Firmin. "This Erik- no better composer ever lived. I've never seen such talent And with his face he'll never make it as a composer on his own. Nobody would ever give him a chance. So I'm sure there will be no trouble with getting him to sell out to us."

Nadir believed Erik was better than that. His work could stand on it's own merrits. And he didn't want to see him used.

"What is it Dr. Khan?"

"Erik, something bad is happening under the surface, behind the scene."

He didn't dare tell Erik anything further. How could he come right out and say that the vice principal of the school was working with someone to use the students? He'd lose his job, and he didn't evn have any solid proof accept what he'd heard.

"Something bad?" Erik asked, but before Nadir could answer Andre came in.

"Dr. Khan is everything all right? I heard there was a disturbance in class."

"No, everything is fine."

Andre turned to Erik. "Shouldn't you be on you way to the seminar?"

Erik nodded, but gave a concerned look at Dr. Khan before going.

The weather was turning a bit chilly, the way Erik liked it. It made for a good excuse to wrap a scarf around his face so others wouldn't stare at him. Aparently the driver of the taxi bringing some new girl to the school though wasn't watching where he was going at all, and nearly ran over Erik in the parking lot.

"You're driver should watch where he's going!" Erik yelled at the girl who got out of the cab. "And he was going way too fast in a parking lot anyway."

The girl looked at him. "Well maybe the driver thought you'd already been in an accident and wanted to get away before you could sue him for it." Erik stormed off in disgust.

The girl wasn't truly the type of person to mock someone deformed or different, but she'd vowed to herself long ago that she was never going to be serious about anything again. That had started with her father'd death. She never had been able to truly grieve for him, always pushing that pain aside. She never put an effort into anything, always goofing off to the point that she kept getting shuffled from one school to another, or sometimes one foster family to another. Her current foster mother, Mama Valarious, was quite nice.

"Do you know who that is?" Raoul asked Reza, Dr. Khan's son who tended to follow him around, looking up to him as part of the "in" crowd. "That's Christine Daa'e. I've seen her compete in school singing compititions years ago even though we never talked or anything. She's the best female singer I've ever heard, or at least she used to be. They say she can't anymore since her father died, but still, she's the most beautiful girl anyone could hope to see."

Raoul and Christine ended up having one class and a study hall together, but Christine didn't bother with her homework during study hall. Instead she leaned back in her chair and started listening to her ipod.

"The trouble with schools is they always try to teach the wrong lesson," she told Raoul when he looked up and noticed what she was doing. "They want you to become less callow, less shallow. But I say why invite stress in? Stop studying strife and learn to live 'the unexamined life'"

She sighed, and continued to talk, although now it was half to herself.

"Dancing through life, skimming the surface, gliding where turf is smooth." That was the best way. It was too painful to face life and be serious. "Life's more painless for the brainless.

Why think too hard when it's so soothing? Dancing through life, no need to tough it when you can sluff it off as I do. Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. It's just life so keep dancing through."

Involuntarily, she began making up a song out of her thoughts.

"Dancing through life

swaying and sweeping

and always keeping cool.

life is fraughtless

when you're thoughtless."

"You should try out for the choir. You'd be head soloist if you tried," Raoul commented after listening a minuet. Christine shook her head. "Those who don't try never look foolish." Going back to her song she sighed.

"Dancing through life

mindless and careless

make sure your where less

trouble in rife

woes are fleeting

blows are glancing

when you're dancing

through life..."

She broke off and shook her head. Enough doom and gloom.

"So doesn't anyone do anything fun around here?"

"Well there's a masquarade tonight," Raoul said hopefully.

"Sounds perfect!" Christine agreed, and leaned in slightly, flirting."Let's go to the masquarade. We'll meet there later tonight. We can dance til it's light." She grinned flirtatiously. "I'm the prettiest girl, so give me a whirl. right on down to the masquaradecome on, follow me. You'll be happy to be there."

She picked up her song again, but there was an undertone of sadness in her voice.

"Dancing through life, from dawn until dust, only because dust is what we come to. Nothing matters but knowing nothing matters. It's just life, so keep dancing through."

Raoul hadn't heard the last part it was so soft. He was smiling at her.

"After all, now that we've met one another-"

"it's clear we deserve each other," Christine finished.

"You're perfect."

Christine grinned. "You're perfect. So we're perfect together. Born to be forever dancing through life."

Later that day, Erik was complaining about how everyone was worshiping the new girl to Lucianna, but she was too caught up in her own joy to care.

"I'm going to the masquarade tonight! Isn't it wonderful? Reza was too shy to ask me at first, but once Raoul encouraged him..." Actually Raoul had been trying to get some alone time with Christine. Reza had been hanging around and Raoul had suggested Reza go ask Lucianna out

"Raoul?" Erik asked, his hatred for Raoul clear in his voice.

"Don't you dare say another word against him!" Lucianna shouted "I'm about to have the first happy night of my life since the accident all thanks to Raoul!" She smiled dreamily. "Finally for this one night, I'm about to have a fun night with this handsome boy that Raoul has found for me. And I only wish there were something I could do for him to repay him. Erik don't you see? We deserve each other and Raoul has helped it come true. We deserve each other. Please Erik try to understand."

He smiled softly. "I do." Living as close to a normal life as possible meant so much to Lucianna. And perhaps he had judged Raoul too quickly. Hmm, a way to repay him? That was easy enough to arrange.

"Raoul, Lucianna and I were just talking about you."

"And my friends and I were just talking about you," Raoul said. Actually they'd been disgussing giving Erik an unwanted mask they'd rejected as an option for the masquarade. "I thought you might like to wear this mask to the party tonight."

Erik took it suspiciously, almost as if expecting it to explode. He hadn't even intended on going, not liking to be around others any more than necessary. But what could it hurt?

Reza was feeling guilty about only having asked Lucianna out at Raoul's suggestion, and had decided to tell her the truth.

"Uh, Lucianna, I've got something to confess, a reason why, well- why I asked you here tonight

now I know it isn't fair... "

Lucianna looked down. 'I know why. It's because I'm in this chair and you felt sorry for me. Well isn't that right?"

"No, no," he protested blushing. "It's because... because..." he looked into her eyes and smiled. "It's because you are so beautiful."

Lucianna gasped and began to babble. "Reza I think you're wonderful. And we desrve each other. Don't you see, this is our chance? We deserve each other don't we Reza?"

He smiled kindly. "You know what? Let's dance."

"What?" Lucianna couldn't believe she'd heard right.

"Let's dance," he repeated, and began spinning her around in her chair while she laughed in delight.

Everyone else was having a wonderful time as well, Raoul was waiting for Christine to arive when Andre walked up.

"Mr. de Chagny, I'm giving you a chance to test into the advanced music class."

Raoul looked at him in shock. "Thank you!"

"Oh, don't thank me! This was your roommate's idea, not mine."

"What? Erik?" Raoul asked in disbelief.

"He requested that give you this chance. He insisted I tell you this very night or he would quit the seminar."

"But... why?" Erik hated him. Why on earth would he help him.

"I have no idea. My personal opinion is you do not have what it takes. I hope you'll prove me wrong... I doubt you will"

Raoul was too shocked at Erik's kindness to pay much attention to the insult. Erik- had helped him? Was there some alterier motive? Some trick involved? No, there was no way that was possible. Erik had actually done him a favor- and now Raoul couldn't have felt worse about all the times he'd been cruel to him.

"What's wrong?" Christine asked, comming up by him.

"Nothing," Raoul said quickly.

"Good. let's dance."

The party continued until Erik entered, the other students beginning to snigger.

"Please, just let him alone. He isn't hurting anyone," Raoul tried to persuade them, but it was useless. Comments and glares and whispered wizecracks buzzed throughout the room. Erik decided to take no notice, or at least pretend not to. The music had temporarily stopped, but no matter, there was always music in his mind anyway. He began to dance, very gracefully had anyone cared to admit it. It was almost like he WAS music.

"You have to give him this much," Christine said. "He doesn't give a twig what anyone else thinks."

"That's not true," Raoul said sadly. "He just pretends not to."

There had to be some way to get the others to back off and stop all the grief everyone had given Erik since day one. Then it came to Raoul. No one would dare laugh at any friend of his. Confidently, and trying to ignore the glares as much as Erik was, Raoul began to dance as well.

Erik's mouth nearly dropped. Helping Lucianna had been one thing, but Raoul was helping him now too? Behind the mask Erik smiled. The two boys looked at each other, both thinking the same thing again. Except this time instead of how much they loathed each other, it was that they just might end up as friends after all.


End file.
